From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmolestmo‧lest /məˈlest/ verb [transitive] 1 SYSEX/HAVE SEX WITHto attack or harm someone, especially a child, by touching them in a sexual way or by trying to have sex with them SYN abuse men who molest young boys2 old-fashionedATTACK to attack and physically harm someone a dog that was molesting sheep —molester noun [countable] —molestation /ˌməʊleˈsteɪʃən $ ˌmoʊ-/ noun [uncountable] sexual molestation → child molester→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
molest• An autopsy revealed she had been sexually molested.• Dietz told jurors it was up to them to decide whether Erik was molested.• When discovered, the youths often said they were molested.• Pinochi said the investigation began in June when a woman, now about 29, claimed she was molested as a child.• Her father had molested her and her sisters when they were children.• In this case, the husband had raped his wife following an undertaking to the court not to molest her.• And she had been ... yes, she had been: she had been molested, if only on the surface.• So Argos remained quiescent, and did not, for example, molest Mykenai and Tiryns, which took part in the war.• The boy told officers he had been molested several times.Origin molest (1300-1400) Old French molester, from Latin molestare, from molestus “heavy, annoying”, from moles “mass” 